New Blood by Gail Dayton
If you judged this book by the title or cover, you might think this is yet another one of those vampire romances that are so popular. Or perhaps a horror story. What you probably wouldn't think is that this is a Steampunk romance.
What exactly is Steampunk? It's defined as a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that is set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used. Most often, the setting is the Victorian period, or a fantasy world that closely resembles that period. There is a growing interest in Steampunk, and there are now "cons" held around the county, with fashion, music and of course, books.
New Blood begins with the magically bound servant, Jax, finally fulfilling his over two hundred year old mission to find the next blood sorceress. Unfortunately, the magically talented Amanusa doesn't believe him. When she finally uses her magic to exact revenge on a group of rebels who killed her family and held her prisoner, she learns being a powerful sorceress comes with a huge cost to her conscience.
As Jax and Amanusa are pursued across Europe, they discover areas that are competely dead and inhabited only by strange mechanical creatures. They also discover a powerful attraction to each other, and yet Jax is a servant - captured, mistreated and magically bound to the previous blood sorceress, Yvaine. Will he be able to trust Amanusa enough to be honest with her? And will Amanusa learn to control her powerful magic and earn her place in the International Magician's Conclave?
This combination of a unique world, with familiar elements, magic and romance should satisfy fans of multiple genres. It's the first book in a series set around the International Magician's Conclave, and I look forward to reading the next book in the series coming out in 2010.
You got me at steampunk - what a catchy name for a genre that combines all of my favorite genres into one. New Blood was an obsessive read - to heck with the laundry or cooking dinner. This was definitely a book I could not put down. I can't wait for the next book in the series and hope that Jax and Amananusa will both be there. Following this one up with "The Women of Nell Gwynne's" by Kage Baker. Some definite similarities make this an excellent chaser to New Blood.